Broadband Interagency Coordination Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4283 To require Federal agencies with jurisdiction over broadband deployment to enter into an interagency agreement related to certain types of funding for broadband deployment. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 11, 2019 Mr. PENCE (for himself and Mr. VISCLOSKY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provi- sions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To require Federal agencies with jurisdiction over broadband deployment to enter into an interagency agreement re- lated to certain types of funding for broadband deploy- ment. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Broadband Inter- 4 agency Coordination Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. INTERAGENCY AGREEMENT. 6 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Sep 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4283.IH H4283 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 4283 IH (1) COVERED AGENCY.—The term ‘‘covered 1 agency’’ means— 2 (A) the Federal Communications Commis- 3 sion; 4 (B) the Department of Agriculture; and 5 (C) the National Telecommunications and 6 Information Administration. 7 (2) HIGH-COST PROGRAMS.—The term ‘‘high- 8 cost programs’’ means— 9 (A) the programs for Universal Service 10 Support for High-Cost Areas set forth under 11 subpart D of part 54 of title 47, Code of Fed- 12 eral Regulations, or any successor thereto; 13 (B) the Remote Areas Fund set forth 14 under subpart J of part 54 of title 47, Code of 15 Federal Regulations, or any successor thereto; 16 (C) the Interstate Common Line Support 17 Mechanism for Rate-of-Return Carriers set 18 forth under subpart K of part 54 of title 47, 19 Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor 20 thereto; 21 (D) the Mobility Fund set forth under sub- 22 part L of part 54 of title 47, Code of Federal 23 Regulations, or any successor thereto; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Sep 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4283.IH H4283 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 4283 IH (E) the High Cost Loop Support for Rate- 1 of-Return Carriers program set forth under 2 subpart M of part 54 of title 47, Code of Fed- 3 eral Regulations, or any successor thereto. 4 (b) INTERAGENCY AGREEMENT.—Not later than 180 5 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the head of 6 each covered agency shall enter into an interagency agree- 7 ment requiring coordination between the covered agencies 8 for the distribution of funds for broadband deployment 9 under— 10 (1) the high-cost programs; 11 (2) the programs administered by the Rural 12 Utilities Service of the Department of Agriculture; 13 and 14 (3) the programs administered by the National 15 Telecommunications and Information Administra- 16 tion. 17 (c) REQUIREMENTS.—In entering into an interagency 18 agreement with respect to the programs described in sub- 19 section (b), the head of each covered agency shall— 20 (1) require that the covered agencies share in- 21 formation with each other about existing or planned 22 projects that have received or will receive funds 23 under the programs described in subsection (b) for 24 new broadband deployment; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Sep 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4283.IH H4283 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 4283 IH (2) provide that— 1 (A) subject to subparagraph (B), upon re- 2 quest from another covered agency with author- 3 ity to award or authorize any funds for new 4 broadband deployment in a project area, a cov- 5 ered agency shall provide the other covered 6 agency with any information the covered agency 7 possesses regarding, with respect to the project 8 area— 9 (i) each entity that provides 10 broadband service in the area; 11 (ii) levels of broadband service pro- 12 vided in the area, including the speed of 13 broadband service and the technology pro- 14 vided; 15 (iii) the geographic scope of 16 broadband service coverage in the area; 17 and 18 (iv) each entity that has received or 19 will receive funds under the programs de- 20 scribed in subsection (b) to provide 21 broadband service in the area; and 22 (B) if a covered agency designates any in- 23 formation provided to another covered agency 24 under subparagraph (A) as confidential, the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Sep 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4283.IH H4283 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 4283 IH other covered agency shall protect the confiden- 1 tiality of that information; 2 (3) designate the Federal Communications 3 Commission as the entity primarily responsible for— 4 (A) coordinating among the covered agen- 5 cies; and 6 (B) storing or maintaining access to all 7 broadband deployment data; 8 (4) consider basing the distribution of funds for 9 broadband deployment under the programs described 10 in subsection (b) on standardized data regarding 11 broadband coverage; and 12 (5) provide that the interagency agreement 13 shall be updated periodically, except that the scope 14 of the agreement with respect to the Federal Com- 15 munications Commission may not expand beyond the 16 high-cost programs. 17 (d) ASSESSMENT OF AGREEMENT.— 18 (1) PUBLIC COMMENT.—Not later than 1 year 19 after entering into the interagency agreement re- 20 quired under subsection (b), the Federal Commu- 21 nications Commission shall seek public comment 22 on— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Sep 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4283.IH H4283 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 4283 IH (A) the effectiveness of the interagency 1 agreement in facilitating efficient use of funds 2 for broadband deployment; 3 (B) the availability of Tribal, State, and 4 local data regarding broadband deployment and 5 the inclusion of that data in interagency coordi- 6 nation; and 7 (C) modifications to the interagency agree- 8 ment that would improve the efficacy of inter- 9 agency coordination. 10 (2) ASSESSMENT; REPORT.—Not later than 18 11 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the 12 Federal Communications Commission shall— 13 (A) review and assess the comments re- 14 ceived under paragraph (1); and 15 (B) submit to the Committee on Com- 16 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Sen- 17 ate and the Committee on Energy and Com- 18 merce of the House of Representatives a report 19 detailing any findings and recommendations 20 from the assessment conducted under subpara- 21 graph (A). 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Sep 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4283.IH H4283 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS